Each strike to the core weakens the creatures, their movements growing sluggish and disjointed while their regeneration slowed drastically.

The oppressive glow of the cove dims with every crystal destroyed.

The oppressive air remains, but the creatures are gone, their shattered forms scattered and powerless.

Ezra exhales heavily, leaning on Skyfall as the adrenaline subsides, before inevitably falling on his knees, completely fatigued.

The last three had almost recovered enough to resume it’s attacks, so Ezra had to put more effort into quickly destroying their cores.

Such expenditure of energy left him weak to his knees, gasping heavily to catch his breath, while his head ached badly.

Clutching his skull, Ezra surveys the surroundings looking for his rightfully earned rewards.

But...nothing pops up.

No essence shards, no artifact, just...nothing.

Even after turning his gaze in other directions, it remains the same.

To this, Ezra’s blood pressure inevitably rises as rage sprouts in his heart.

’What is this?! Where are my the rewards?’

Here, his ever trusty advisor enters the scene.

[It’s because the creatures here are already corrupted]

Ezra froze, his breath still ragged. The words from his advisor echoed in his mind, their weight pressing against his already fragile state.

"Corrupted?" he muttered aloud, his voice hoarse.

[Correct. The creatures within this cove have been corrupted up to their very essence, and have probably consumed the rewards, or simply flipped over the settings of the trail]

"Pheeew..." Ezra exhales, a sigh of defeat escaping his lips.

Right now, he was too fatigued to even make a fuss about it all.

Still, it stung to do so much work without a proper reward.

Feeling defeated, Ezra sought to take refuge in his universe, but backtracks such line of thought.

After all, there’s no saying more shadow crystals wouldn’t have somehow popped up for another fight, and Ezra wasn’t trying to do that twice.

So he gets moving, deciding to arrive at the third section before heading to the sovereign universe for a much needed nap.

—---------

Elsewhere, deep within a hidden alcove bathed in an eerie, shifting light, a lone figure sat cross-legged before a massive formation of black crystal.

The man’s body is considerably thin, his skin stretched tight over jagged bones, while his eyes remain closed, giving the illusion of tranquility.

Alvric’s breath hitched as he felt a severance, his connection to the modified shadows snapping like a frayed cord.

His hands clench into trembling fists at this and his red eyes snap open, burning with an unnatural brilliance.

"Interesting..." he whispered, his voice hoarse with a disbelieving smile sprouting across his parched lips. "He actually destroyed the shadows...perhaps I underestimated him?"

Still, that didn’t conceal the fury he felt that another one of his carefully crafted creations had perished.

The shadows were so notorious that they held the highest kill count of all his creations.

And until now, they had only been temporarily defeated, beaten until they had to temporarily retreat to recover. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Yet now, their very cores, which he made great effort to hide, had been found and destroyed.

An unpleasant anomaly that had not occurred in the past five decades...

*Tsk!*

The chamber around him trembles as his fury boils over, the black crystal formation behind him flaring to life.

He rises unsteadily to his feet, his frame trembling.

"That bastard!" He curses. "He continues to tamper with my work!" he snarls, showcasing a multitude of veins along his gaunt skull, his voice reverberating through the chamber.

For decades, he had warped this section of the secret realm to his will, transforming its once-pristine light into a twisted weapon of darkness.

He had sacrificed the souls and bodies of countless expedition members, using their essence to augment his own strength and reshape the realm into his dominion.

And now, someone was unraveling it.

He reaches out, his bony fingers brushing the surface of the black crystal formation.

It pulsed faintly under his touch, but the energy within felt diminished.

With his scrawny face scrunched up and his expression unsightly, the man’s gaze settles in a menacing stare.

"You’ve made a grave mistake"

If before, he intended to watch as the intruder waddled around before losing his life, but now, it had gotten personal.

He didn’t intend to have the little miscreant continue dismantling the rest of the secret realm.

—--------

Ezra slowly steps into the next section of the realm with his fatigue still abound as his boots crunch against the fractured crystals littering the ground.

Ezra pauses, scanning his surroundings.

"Well, this is... worse," he muttered, noting the increased distortion.

The atmosphere here is heavier and distorted in a way different from the section he had just come from.

Similar to the section before it, its walls are encased entirely in crystals.

But unlike the second section whose crystals had been utterly tainted with corruption, becoming full on black, these ones still held a myriad of colours; red, blue, green, purple, pink and even a portion of golden ones.

But unlike the first section with its crystals pristine and bright, these crystals had their colours dulled.

The shade of all the crystals colours all lean towards the darker side; dark red, dark purple and so on, giving the surroundings a sinister feel, especially with the radiated colours moving ever slowly.

In exchange, the crystals here were far more damaged than the previous section.

Taking all this in, Ezra nods.

Having reached his destination and surveyed the surroundings, he promptly activates <Gatekeeper>, leaving the suffocating environment for a comfortable mattress by landing right on his castle bed.

Not even bothering to put Skyfall away, Ezra is quick to fall into a much needed lull of rest, awaking five hours later.

Ezra stirred from his slumber, the weight of exhaustion had significantly lessened, but had not left entirely.

The deep ache in his muscles remained, a lingering reminder of the battle.

Blinking away the remnants of sleep, he sat up and rubbed his temples.

He rose, groaning as his sore limbs protested the movement.

Skyfall lay propped against the bed frame, the weapon emanating a faint, almost soothing hum.

Picking it up, Ezra lets its familiar weight settle in his hands as he stretches his body, settling his queaking joints.

Standing listlessly for a few seconds, Ezra sits back on his bed, thinking back to the lack of rewards.

’If it’s like this, will I even be able to find any artifacts? Let alone five’

The submission of five artifacts the requirements stated in the contract to signify the contract as valid.

But with most of the trials corrupted, it lay questionable whether he would be able to get even one artifact.

’Well, no use just thinking about it’

Rising, Ezra activated <Gatekeeper> with a thought.

The castle walls around him disappear, simultaneously replaced by the oppressive, distorted air of the realm’s third section.

The moment his boots hit the ground, a chill ran down his spine.

The atmosphere is worse than he remembered.

The distorted energy here seems to pulse, alive in its malevolence.

Ezra takes a steadying breath and begins walking, his footsteps echoing faintly against the fractured crystal floor.

—-----------

Elsewhere in the Secret Realm

Alvric stood before the black crystal formation, his bony fingers tracing intricate patterns across its surface.

The atmosphere around him is charged, the formation responding to his touch with faint pulses of corrupted energy.

"This intruder..." the man hisses, his voice a venomous whisper. "To undo my work so thoroughly... he must suffer the consequences of his actions"

With a sudden movement, he pressed both palms against the formation.

It flared to life, sending waves of dark energy cascading outward.

Closing his eyes, his gaunt face twisted in concentration as he reached out, his mind intertwining with the fabric of the secret realm.

He sensed the intruder’s presence—a flickering light amidst the corrupted expanse.

The man’s lips curl into a grim smile.

"You won’t escape me," he whispered, his voice carrying a promise of retribution.

With a final surge of energy, he unleashed a command, his will rippling through the realm.

—---------

Back in the Third Section

Ezra froze mid-step, his instincts screaming in warning.

The air around him shifts, growing heavier, more hostile.

The distorted energy seemed to coalesce, condensing into tangible forms.

From the shadows cast by the fractured crystals, figures began to emerge.

They were humanoid in shape but entirely composed of dark, pulsating energy, their forms flickering like dying flames.

Their eyes glowed a sickly yellow, locking onto Ezra with predatory intent.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ezra mutters, raising a brow as his grip tightens around Skyfall.

The figures moved in unison, their motions unnervingly fluid despite their unstable forms. Ezra took a defensive stance, the weight of fatigue still dragging at his limbs. He steadied his breathing, drawing upon the reserves of energy he had left.

The first figure lunges, its movements just as fast as expected.

Or rather, perhaps a bit slower?

Ezra side steps, bringing Skyfall around in a wide arc.

The blade met the figure’s arm, cleaving through the dark energy with ease.

The creature recoiled, its form flickering as it deforms and dissolves into nothing.

To this, Ezra is taken by surprise, instantly moving away from that position in premonition of a second attack, probably an explosion.

.....

Nothing happens, leaving Ezra guessing.

But no matter, he didn’t intend to let up his guard for even an instant.

With his opponents being much easier to deal with than their previous counterparts, Ezra put out all ears to guard himself.

He could instinctively tell from experience.

There was something else...

Something powerful enough to be lethal lay lurking in plain sight.